I am a researcher and author whose work connects developmental psychology, relationships and sex education (RSE), female reproductive experiences, gender inequality, and death studies. My research examines how social attitudes and institutions shape individual experiences of misogyny, sexuality, shame, and impact of reproductive events both during adolescence and across the lifespan.
A distinctive feature of my work is its attention to the social and environmental contributors to personal experience. Rather than treating misogyny, shame, grief or distress solely as individual psychological experiences, my research considers how cultural expectations, stigma, gendered assumptions, and institutional responses all contribute.
This brings three closely connected themes together:
Shame and Stigma
How labels, sexualised insults and social judgement can shape girls' experiences of pregnancy, sexuality, and loss.
Misogyny, Consent, and
Gendered Double Standards
How expectations about gendered sexual behaviour can influence the way girls are treated and mistreated (including VAWG and Sexual Violence).
Education and Institutional Responses
How relationships and sex education, teacher attitudes, pastoral support, and school policies can either reinforce patriarchal structures, misogyny, and stigma or help challenge it.
The Book
A definitive guide to grief and grieving...This book will help those who are grieving as well as the people who are supporting them understand how to navigate and communicate through grief and how to reach out to others
Tracey Bleakley, CEO, Hospice UK
For all grief workers - practitioners, volunteers, friends and family - Caroline's narrative is a light to guide us through what can be the dark and confusing landscape of grief
Dr Jennifer Dayes, Counselling Psychologist and Academic
